LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE AT VASSAR COLLEGE Newsletter Issue 4, Fall 2019 It Takes a Village/College: A History of the Vassar College Lifelong Learning Institute By Mihai Grunfeld on the inception of VCLLI I joined the Vassar College faculty in 1987 and was blessed almost right away to become a part of a local Chavurah - a small group with whom we celebrated the Jewish holidays and learned about Jewish spirituality. There I met David Bloom with whom I began running every morning, rain or shine, on the beautiful Vassar campus. As the years passed and our running slowed down to a vigorous walk, our admiration for this lovely campus moved toward musings about retirement and what we were going to do once we got there. David reached “there” in 2011 and joined the Bard College Lifelong Learning Institute the same year. Our conversations now often touched on how much he was learning and how great the LLI courses were. The only problem, according to my friend, was that Bard was far away. We understood that the closest LLI at Marist College, the Center for Lifetime Study, had a long waiting list - so long, we were told, that some “people died before making it in.” This was both a credit to Marist’s offering, and reflected an unmet need. There were, of course, several other LLIs in the region, including SUNY New Paltz Lifetime Learning Institute, Lifespring in Saugerties, ENCORE at the Orange County Community College and LIFE at Mount St. Mary College, but all these were still relatively distant from Poughkeepsie. The obvious answer was to create an LLI at Vassar, so I made an appointment with Jon Chenette, the Dean of the Faculty, and spoke to him about this possibility. Jon was enthusiastic and encouraged me to do my homework and develop a proposal for Vassar’s consideration. In addition, he was open to the idea of linking this project to my phased retirement, effectively underwriting some of the planning and development. This is where the village comes in. It started as a close circle of friends who accompanied me in meetings with the leaders of the Bard LLI and Marist CLS, including David Bloom, Frank Pepe, Mike Kessler and Anne Gardon. Local leaders at Bard and Marist generously shared their experiences and spoke to us about their organizations’ histories and structures. In sharing their time, as well as sample catalogues, registration forms and materials, they provided mountains of technical assistance and support. We organized the first Vassar College LLI planning meeting in January 2017 and invited a lot of friends. We had a good idea about what we needed to figure out in order to develop a sound proposal for Vassar. We needed a plan that addressed everything from finances (a budget, membership fees) and a curriculum (presenters, a catalogue), to membership, classroom space, transportation, a Hospitality room and everything in between. Participants in the early planning meetings included: David Bloom, Diane Boujikian, Mark Boujikian, Linda Cantor, Fred Chromey, Susan Davis, Jean Claude Fouere, Carlie Graves, Doris Haas, Muriel Horowitz, Lucy Johnson, Beverly Kaufman, Kathy Kurosman, Debra McGarvey, Ann Mehaffey, Ann Patty, Frank Pepe, Marilyn Rosenberg, Molly Shanley, Sarah Levine-Simon, Georgette Weir, Carole Wolf, and Michael Yarmosky. Now we were a community! Over a period of a few months, we developed a detailed proposal, anticipating as many of the questions and concerns the College might have. I presented the resulting proposal to Jon Chenette. He, in turn, shared it with the president and the Vassar College Executive Council and came back with their support. LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE AT VASSAR COLLEGE Newsletter Issue 4, Fall 2019 Page 2 Carlie Graves, myself and the Dean worked on a Memorandum of Understanding, defining the LLI-Vassar College relationship. Through the planning process and start-up, we benefitted enormously from the regional network of LLIs, including annual autumn conferences. One was in November 2016, and the other in October 2017 which Carlie Graves, Lucy Johnson and myself attended at Marist College. We met leaders of the LLIs in the region and learned more practical tips about how they structured their organizations and the achievements and difficulties they encountered. Some of our early advisors and supporters included: Donna Warner, Joyce Carter, Anne Sunners, Carol Lee, and Margaret Shuhala (Bard LLI), Susan Davis and Susan Puretz (Lifespring), Barbara Van Italy, Leathem and Anne Mehaffey and Merrilee Osterhoudt (Marist CLS), and Marilou Abramshe (Suny NewPaltz LLI). Chuck Mishaan provided invaluable help in setting up our computing system. In March of 2018, we launched the first semester with 20 courses and a membership of 130. A year and a half later, having just completed our fourth semester, we have a membership of 300 and an offering of 38 on- campus courses, 5 off-campus courses and 7 special events. Our members say they value the intimacy of small classes which foster participation, and how our Hospitality room bustles with a sense of a community. We recently hired a permanent administrative assistant, Denise Laforgue. The LLI is led by an Executive Committee of five, a General Council of 17, and many committees staffed by member-volunteers. We cooperated on several events with Marist CSL and will host the next regional LLI mini conference at Vassar in autumn 2020. Vassar College LLI owes a debt of gratitude to Dean Chenette for his consistent leadership and support of the LLI from the beginning, as well as the generous assistance of many people from all areas of the college, including: Stephen Dahnert, Vice President for Finance and Administration Brian Swarthout, Director of Budgeting and Planning Marianne Begemann & Carlos Alamo, Dean and Assistant Dean of Strategic Planning & Academic Resources Teresa Quinn, Assistant Dean of the College for Campus Activities Angie Zalaznick and Dana Nalbandian, Controller’s Office Michael Cato and Brian Chickery and Peter Conklin, Computing & Info Services Steve Taylor, Director of Academic Computing Services Daria Robbins, Director of Web Development George Laws, Ray Schwartz, Jason Bailey and Magan Brown, Communications Office Kim Squillace, Arlene Sabo and Sal Incorvaia, Vassar Safety & Security Dayle Rebelein, Campus Activities Office Ruth E. Spencer, Associate Vice President of Human Resources In conclusion, we are a volunteer run organization counting on our members to do all the work that is needed. We are grateful for their effort and hope that you too will step forward and help us advance our goal of educating our members in a collaborative fashion. LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE AT VASSAR COLLEGE Newsletter Issue 4, Fall 2019 Page 3 Sampling of Fall 2019 Courses Animation: Beyond the Cartoon The photo of Presenter Sybil DelGaudio in action is a prime example of the enthusiasm and energy she brings to each and every class. The topic of her class, “Animation: Beyond the Cartoon”, follows the development of animation from before color and sound to the results technology allows us to achieve today. The class is informative, interactive and fun. When thinking of animation, my mind automatically goes to characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny and real live characters such as Walt Disney. While cartoons and cartoon movies make up the majority of animated features, animation has been used for many different purposes. These include, among others, art for its own sake, commercial ventures, educational vehicles and training films, each of which Sybil reviews. As discussed in class, the lines are sometimes blurry as commercial vehicles can certainly also be artistic. Animation is a true labor of love. One second of an animated film can contain 24 frames of film, each one different from the next, each one created by hand. Another amazing technique is the etching of images directly on film, again frame by painstaking frame. Sybil includes a plethora of information on these techniques and the key players responsible for their development. Sybil fills the class with anecdotes that bring the topics to life. I feel confident that my classmates would join me in saying that it is a class well worth taking. Glenn Conciatori The Actors and Directors' Lab Some of the best teachers are storytellers who encapsulate truth and demonstrate correct methodology by cleverly disguising it as entertainment. Roger Hendricks Simon is such a master storyteller. Bringing his straightforward style and good humor into the Vassar classroom, he shares his passion and years of experience without diminishing or intimidating his students. During our first VCLLI session, Simon disarmed us immediately and got us into action quickly. He LIFELONG LEARNING INSTITUTE AT VASSAR COLLEGE Newsletter Issue 4, Fall 2019 Page 4 Sampling of Fall 2019 Courses Continued assured us there were no grades while making it clear he wanted us to take risks and even fall on our faces at times because every great actor needs to make mistakes to learn what not to do. His classes covered the importance of the use of the voice, the art of observation and demonstrating detail, the actor’s use of the body and face to communicate, and the use of mindfulness in everyday life to draw from daily experiences when creating a role. Simon told us stories of famous directors he has known, sharing their strengths and weaknesses, and he outlined the difficult role of the director. Students were encouraged to help direct each other as peers performed scenes in class. The actors and directors lab is a fast-paced class that touches on the important basics of acting and directing, leaving room for further development. It is an immersion course that whets the appetite for ongoing creative exploration in the world of acting and/or directing. Hopefully Roger Hendricks Simon will return next semester to share his craft with new students and to help amplify the skills of those of us who had the joy of attending the Fall semester.